When the pain in forward Devin Wyatt’s knee flared up last summer, he tried to rest it.

But with his senior year at the University of the Incarnate Word looming, he didn’t sit for too long before he’d get on the floor again to continue fine-tuning his game.

His work ethic notwithstanding, Wyatt soon discovered a painful truth.

He was no match for a damaged meniscus cartilage.

“Every now and then, (I’d) go out there and do something and then it would bother me,” he said. “Then it really got bad when the school year started. Then, we found I tore it.”

At that point, doctors prescribed a medical procedure.

Given the timeline of the injury and rehabilitation, it’s remarkable that Wyatt returned to full speed workouts in mid-October.

It’s also commendable that he has played in all three games for UIW (3-0) leading into Wednesday night’s home matchup against Loyola Marymount (2-1).

“He’s a very good athlete,” UIW coach Ken Burmeister said. “(He) blocks shots. His (best) attribute is that he’s a nice young man that, you know, has an upside.

“Unfortunately, it’s getting late in his career. The injury set him back. But, who knows? We’re going to need him. I think that’s the biggest strength (of our team) is that we’ve got a bench, that we haven’t had in years.”

Wyatt is doing his best to be part of it.

The 6-foot-8, shot-blocking specialist has played only six, nine and 11 minutes, respectively, as UIW opened the season against three Division III opponents.

But with Division I foes such as Loyola Marymount, Houston, Gonzaga, UTEP and Florida on the schedule in the next month, UIW will need Wyatt’s size and athleticism to compete.

Burmeister said Wyatt is not yet in top shape.

“But he is trying hard,” said the coach, who never asks for anything more.

Wyatt, who played at Loyola Marymount in 2014-15 as a freshman, admitted that it’s been a struggle to regain the form that made him UIW’s top shot blocker last season.

“I feel a little rusty, but it’s understandable considering I haven’t played in so long,” he said. “But it’s slowly coming back. The more I play, the better it (feels).”

LAST SEASON

Playing at home, Loyola Marymount erased an eight-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation and defeated UIW 91-90 in overtime.

“They had an outstanding point guard who put about 30 on us,” Burmeister recalled. “With the 3-point shot and an opportunity to go to the line, an eight-point lead is sometimes not enough.

“We made a stupid play right at the end. We fouled about 80 feet from the basket and just didn’t play smart.”

INJURY REPORT

UIW point guard Jalin Hart has returned to practice and is expected to play against Loyola Marymount. Hart banged his knee in practice last week, sat out a day of practice Thursday and didn’t play Friday at home against McMurry.

UTSA runs its halfcourt offense last week at home against East Central, Oklahoma. After winning one of three in the Bahamas Showcase, the Roadrunners (3-2 overall) will return home to take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday.

By Jerry BriggsFor theJBreplay.com

The UTSA Roadrunners shot a season-high 53.8 percent from the field Sunday and cruised to a 90-77 victory over James Madison at the Bahamas Showcase.

With the victory, UTSA (3-2) will return to San Antonio feeling better after losing on the first two days of the three-day event in Nassau.

The Roadrunners didn’t shoot it well in losses to Coastal Carolina (83-69) and Bradley (71-69).

They also got off to a slow start against James Madison, falling falling behind 10-3 and 12-6.

But by intermission, they had turned the momentum in their favor.

Moving the ball and hitting high percentage shots, UTSA increased a six-point halftime lead to 18 twice in the second half against James Madison (1-4), a Division I program at the FCS level.

UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast that his players needed a win before they left the island.

“The way the game ended yesterday, it left a bad taste in our mouth,” Henson said. “The first few possessions, we weren’t good. But I think we did a lot of good things and had a lot of different people step up.

“Loved our assists numbers (23 assists/12 turnovers) Loved how we moved the basketball. We looked like a good team on the offensive end.”

Freshman guard Jhivvan Jackson led five players in double figures with 22 points. Jackson entered the game averaging a team-best 15.8.

“He’s got terrific potential,” Henson said. “He’s got a long way to go on the defensive end. He’s got to focus on the details. But he’s a special talent. He can do things that a lot of guys can’t do.”

Jackson grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Texas in seventh grade. He scored more than 2,000 points in his career at Euless Trinity High School.

“He’s just so quick, and he can shoot the ball,” Henson said. “He’s going to keep getting better and keep getting better. He’s just getting started. But, yea, he’s a very talented player.”

JoJo McGlaston hit three free throws with 0.4 seconds remaining to lift Bradley to a 71-69 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners Saturday in the Bahamas.

“We were in position (to win),” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast. “We had a little lead there (at the end) and couldn’t close it out.”

Trailing by one with seven seconds left, Bradley rushed it up court and drew a foul. Officials called it on UTSA’s Austin Karrer against McGlaston.

“I love our guys,” Henson said. “But I didn’t let ’em off the hook.”

Asked by radio broadcaster Jay Howard what he meant by “letting ’em off the hook,” the coach responded, “It would be real easy to walk in there and say bad call. I mean, big call there. They said we fouled a three-point shooter.
I didn’t think we did.

“But it didn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t have mattered. We had 19 turnovers and we got to learn from that. (We’ve) got to grow from that. We shouldn’t have been in a position where that call would have mattered.”

UTSA (2-2) trailed for most of the game against Bradley (3-1) until a late surge, led by Roadrunners guards Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson.

Down by 7 with 10 minutes left, the Roadrunners went on a 9-0 run, which was capped by two free throws from Giovanni De Nicolao.

The Roadrunners continued to push, hiking the lead to six points at one juncture and then to five with 2:46 remaining.

De Nicolao made two free throws with seven seconds left, as UTSA went up 69-68.

But the Roadrunners couldn’t hold on, dropping their second game in a row in the Bahamas Showcase.

UTSA will close out the trip with a game against an opponent (TBA) Sunday. Leading scorers were:

Shawn Johnson takes it to the hoop. Courtesy photo, by Soobum Im / the University of the Incarnate Word.

Incarnate Word opened a double-digit lead early and never looked back on Friday, routing Division III McMurry, 88-49, at the UIW Convocation Center.

The Division I Cardinals (3-0) of the Southland Conference scored the first 17 points of the game.

Charles Brown III and Shawn Johnson led UIW with 19 points apiece. Johnson shot 70 percent from the field and went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

He nearly missed his first double-double of the season, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, and led all players with four steals.

Point guard Jalin Hart did not play. Hart had to sit out Thurday’s practice with ice on a sore knee.

With Hart out, UIW replaced him with freshmen Augustine Ene, who started and scored 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting.

The Cardinals get their first test from Division I competition Wednesday night with a visit from Loyola Marymount.

Coastal Carolina 83, UTSA 69

Freshman guard Jhivvan Jackson continued to shine with 19 points, but it wasn’t enough, as Coastal Carolina handed UTSA its first loss of the season, 83-69, on opening day of the Bahamas Showcase Opener at Nassau.

Freshmen Keaton Wallace and Jhivvan Jackson and sophomore Giovanni De Nicolao all hit three-pointers in the final 70 seconds for the Roadrunners to stun the Bobcats in San Marcos.

With UTSA down by one, Jackson hit two free throws with eight seconds left for the game’s final points.

At the end, Texas State rushed it up court, and Isaiah Gurley missed a hurried three. De Nicolao rebounded in the final seconds and secured the win.

“We didn’t expect it to be easy, and it wasn’t,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast. “We just got whipped on the boards. That’s something that’s been a little bit of a concern for us.

“Really good game for us. They’re tough. They’re aggressive. Physical style. We’ve got a lot of respect for the way they play.”

Texas State pounded the ball inside most of the night to take advantage of a size advantage.

“We don’t see that kind of post up play in practice,” Henson said. “We don’t throw it in there much. Just liked the way our guys hung in there, hung in there and did a lot of things right down the stretch with no timeouts.”

De Nicolao led four UTSA players in double-figure scoring with 17. The sophomore from Italy also produced four rebounds and three assists.

Jackson scored 15, Wallace 11 and Nick Allen 10.

For the second game in a row, the Roadrunners (2-0) sank 11 three-pointers.

The Bobcats (0-2) seemingly had the game won with 1:10 left when Nedeljko Prijovic hit a free throw for a 73-64 lead.

Wallace promptly answered with a three on the other end, sparking a 15-5 run for UTSA down the stretch to secure the win.

With the victory, UTSA increased its all-time lead in the series to 35-24.

Incarnate Word redshirt freshman Christian Peevy grew up on the south side of Chicago and learned to play basketball on a court known as “The Gutter.”

Peevy talked about the experience Monday night after his 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench helped the Cardinals blow out the Trinity Tigers, 93-57.

“We played in this place called The Gutter, because the rims were, well, (there was) no net and barely a backboard,” he said. “I used to stay out there from eight in the morning until six. I used to be there all day.”

In between the time his mother dropped him off and picked him up after work, Peevy learned to fend for himself.

“Basically, it just made me who I am,” he said.

Peevy said his friends didn’t call many fouls on each other.

“No fouls,” he said. “You complain for a foul, and that’s a big problem. You get hit in the mouth, you got to get up and keep playing. That makes you tough. Makes you play through tough defense.”

Peevy’s toughness has been on display for the Cardinals in their first two games.
Knocked out of the lineup all of last year with a stress fracture in his right tibia, the 6-foot-6 forward has returned with a vengeance.

In two games, he has produced a 25 points and 14 rebounds in a combined 28 minutes.

“Christian had a dunk against Texas (in last year’s opener) and hurt himself,” UIW coach Ken Burmeister said. “He played a little against Loyola. Then he couldn’t go any more because of his injury.

“He’s made great progress. He’s a hungry young man. He puts a lot of time in the gym, getting in the weight room. Just getting better all the time.”

Injured, not playing and trying to make it all work in a city a long way from home, Peevy said it was “extremely hard” to cope with it.

“I love playing basketball,” he said. “It was hard watching my teammates play and I couldn’t. I really wanted to be out there. To show (the state of) Texas what I had to offer. I guess I’m getting a chance this year.”

But the story of the game centered on Peevy and the reserves. Together, Peevy, senior Sam Burmeister and freshman Augustine Ene all reached double figures and combined for 39 points.

In the last four minutes of the first half, the bench players sparked a 16-2 run that expanded a six-point lead to 44-24 at intermission.

When Trinity pulled within 14 early in the second half, Peevy led a 29-8 spree that pushed the margin to 78-43. During that stretch, he scored 10, including a fast break dunk and a put-back off an offensive rebound.

“We just come in (off the bench) and we come right back at you,” Peevy said. “It’s hard to scout us because we always have more and more people to produce. We did that today. Augustine played really well. Sam played really well.